The Power of Gnaris (19 page)

Stripped of her last
vestige of hope, Leila slipped into despair. She put her head in
her hands and wept. She remained in a state of disillusionment and
grief throughout the night. She did not sleep, or eat or drink.
Thoughts of how she and the others might get off of the planet
tormented her. With no friend to comfort her or give her counsel,
she had nowhere to turn.

She reflected on the
gods, but wasn’t sure whether they would hear her prayer in this
remote place, but it was worth a try.

“Mighty gods,” she
intoned, “hear me from across the great darkness. You dwell far
away in another galaxy, which is our home. We are waiting for the
day you come to claim the Milky Way. Our main purpose, our only
purpose is to establish an empire in the Milky Way ready for your
arrival. I am here alone on an alien planet and need your help.
Help me as I try to reach out to Barrow.”

She reached out with
her gnaris, with little hope that it would do any good. She was not
a powerful Karavec like the Great Savant and the members of the
Council; but her grief and desolation attained a level of such
desperation that another more powerful than she was disturbed from
his sleep and felt her reaching out to him.

In the distant city
called Washington, Barrow said to Forster, “Something is wrong, I
know it is. Leila and the other Karavec are in trouble.”

* * * * *

Joodrow’s
attack so surprised Kuthrow that he had no chance to fight back.
The co-pilot threw him to the floor of the spacecraft, and thrust a
ray gun into the side of his head.

“Get up.” The
traitor shook with rage.”Why did you and the others return? I had
everything planned.”

Kuthrow was
surprised to see the face of the chief embryculturalist of the
Regional Embrycultural Centre on Arion. “Jethrow! Is that you?”

“I am not
Jethrow. He is my twin. We were separated when we were still very
young. I am Joodrow. I am co-pilot of this ship.”

“Joodrow,
what’s going on?”

“You fool,
don’t you know? Just take a look around you.”

Kuthrow looked
up and noticed something that made his heart leap with sadness. In
the corner of the cabin he saw a crate containing several vials of
a green liquid.

“Is that
Karavec bl

”

“Yes.”

“Whose?”

“It belonged
to the soldiers and crew you left behind on the ship. They didn’t
do a very good job at guarding the ship, did they?” An evil grin
replaced the smirk on Joodrow’s face.

“Joodrow, what
have you done? Are you the one who murdered the Karavec
embryos?”

“Isn’t it
obvious?”

“Why don’t you
kill me too?”

“The Saviour
told me that you are to be spared. Maybe you are too old and your
blood is not fresh enough. The Saviour will decide your fate.”

“The
Saviour?”

“The Saviour
is the one I work for. The Saviour will be glad of a hostage, and
you may even escape death if you’re lucky.”

“Where are you
taking me?”

“We are on our
way into orbit around Ziemia; we will land again on another part of
the planet.”

“But that will
use too much fuel. We will not have enough fuel left to return to
Hikon, unless we can find the right fuel somewhere on this
primitive planet.”

“The Saviour
has already located the fuel.”

“What about
Leila and my men? Are you going to abandon them in the desert? How
will they get home?”

“That’s their
problem. Now, sit in that seat.”

Joodrow
pointed towards a seat at the front of the passenger cabin. When
Kuthrow was seated, the ship’s co-pilot handcuffed him and tied his
legs with rope.

After two days
in orbit, Joodrow judged the right time had come for him to land
the craft again. He engaged the booster rockets and the ship began
its descent towards the planet’s surface.

“Where are we
heading?” Kuthrow asked.

“We are going
to land just outside the city of Jerusalem in a state the Ziemians
have named Israel.”

After the ship
had landed, Joodrow looked out of the window and smiled when he saw
a large group of people surrounding the unmistakable figure of the
Saviour.

When he opened
the door, the people cheered and cleared a path for the Saviour to
approach. They waved palm fronds, and shouted praises to the
Saviour who rode on a strange animal, similar to but smaller and
less aggressive than the horses that Jesse and his men had
ridden.

“Lord Saviour,
I am here,” Joodrow yelled above the hubbub of the crowd. “I have
more blood.”

The Saviour
waved in the direction of Joodrow’s voice, and shouted, “Do you
have my son?”

“Your
son?”

“Kuthrow, do
you have him?”

“He is your
son? Yes, Lord, he is here. I also have the rifles you requested.
Jesse and his gang were only too willing to supply me with a large
number of rifles in exchange for gold.”

Joodrow
disappeared inside the craft and re-emerged a few seconds later,
leading Kuthrow, his hands still handcuffed. They descended the
steps onto the dusty ground, and approached the Saviour.

The Saviour
reached out and touched Kuthrow, saying, “My son, you have made me
very proud, rising to be a commander of the Savant’s warriors.”

Not resisting
a smile, the Saviour turned to Joodrow. “Release him.”

Kuthrow
glowered. “It’s you. You are the Saviour?”

Yes, but
because you are my son, I ordered Joodrow to spare your life and to
bring you here to me so that you can share in my glory.”

“You are
wrong. You will never win this battle. Barrow has greater powers
than you.”

“Barrow is
already defeated. I am now the Great Savant of the Karavec.”

Chapter 16 –
Jerusalem

“
Other
religions are abhorrence to the gods, and should be
quashed.”

 The Book of
Karavec (35, 63)

Barrow called
a meeting with Forster, Lolena and Elena.

“Leila and the
others are in trouble,” he said. I have detected a cry for help
from her gnaris.”

“Does she
possess the power?” Lolena asked.

“No, she
cannot use her gnaris to communicate directly with me. As you know,
only the members of the Council have such powers.”

“So how did
she communicate?”

“I could sense
her gnaris. I can tell from the substance of the gnaris that she is
distressed, but I am unable to comprehend the actual message; the
reason for her distress, or why she is calling out. But it must be
something serious.”

“One of us
must return to the ship,” said Lolena. “Can you ask President
Kowalski if his man, what’s his name, Don

”

“Donahue.”

“ if Donahue
could take me back to the ship in his flying machine. What did they
call that machine?”

“It’s a
helicopter,” said Elena.

“I cannot
allow you to go,” said Barrow. “We are going to Jerusalem to try to
confront this Karavec who calls himself Saviour. If he truly
possesses the powers that they say he does, then he can only
be

”

“ a member of
the Council!” Lolena’s suggestion sent shockwaves through them
all.

“I must
concede that you are right, Lolena. That is why you must accompany
me to Jerusalem. It may require the combined powers of the two of
us to overcome this traitor. I cannot spare Forster. He is leading
the investigation into this murder case, and we need Elena as our
interpreter. We have no choice. All four of us must go. We will
have to ask President Kowalski to send some of his military to our
ship. If Leila and the Karavec soldiers are really in trouble, they
may have a fight on their hands.”

“How could
anyone from this planet have overcome the Karavec warriors?” asked
Lolena. “These people do not possess the technology.”

“Maybe it’s
the Saviour himself,” suggested Forster.

A few moments
silence ensued before Barrow replied. “Unlikely,” he said.
“According to what the president told us, this Saviour is at the
moment concentrating his efforts on the people of Jerusalem. We do
not know what his intentions may be, but I think it unlikely that
he would come here. No, it’s a mystery what has happened to Leila
and the others; but I have to put my trust in Kowalski’s men to
deal with this problem.”

Lolena had
another shocking suggestion. “Could it be Saivrow? He is a member
of the Council, and his name is similar to Saviour.”

“That is hard
to believe,” said the Great Savant, “but, then it would also be
hard to accept that Henrow or Velena might be the traitor. Lolena,
I think you might be right. There is further evidence against
Saivrow.”

“What?”

“Forster
believes that the perpetrator of the crime may be one of a pair of
conjoined twins; and the other twin, the one who is innocent of any
crime, works at one of the centres. It is the only way that the
murderer might have gained access to the Embryological Centres,
since the retinas of conjoined twins are identical.”

“You think
Saivrow has a twin?”

“No, Lolena;
but his accomplice may have. Saivrow is Chief Statistician. He
could have changed the records, and that would explain why Forster
failed in his search to identify any employee who might be a twin.
What if Saivrow tampered with the database that keeps a record of
all Karavec hatchings? He certainly had the opportunity, and no one
who works under him would have questioned his authority to access
the database.”

“You are
right,” said Forster. “I think you have solved the mystery of how
the culprit got inside the centres.”

Barrow weighed
up in his mind the unknown threat to Leila and the Karavec soldiers
against the even greater threat posed by the Saviour.

“We must go to
Jerusalem and apprehend Saivrow and his accomplice,” he said. “The
four of us will depart for Jerusalem as planned tomorrow. In the
meantime, I will talk to the president.”

* * * * *

The president
agreed to send Donahue with soldiers to the
Gnaris Voyager
to find out what had happened to Leila and the others.

“Take care,”
the Great Savant said to Donahue. “We do not know what you will
find there, but you are also a stranger to Leila and my men. Take
this.”

Barrow removed
a pendant hanging by a chain from his neck. “This pendant bears my
seal. It will protect you from the ray guns of the Karavec, and
will identify to them that you are a trusted friend. They will know
that you could not have removed this from my neck. No Karavec, and
certainly no alien, has the power to remove it.”

“Tell Sirrow,
the ship’s captain, to contact Hikon and warn them about Saivrow.
If he is still there, then he must be apprehended and prevented
from leaving Hikon.”

“How do I know
they will believe me? After all, if Saivrow is a member of the
Council, he will find a way to persuade those on Hikon that I am
lying.”

“I will also
provide you with a sealed letter addressed to Sirrow, and I will
give him details of the secret frequency he must use to contact
Mallow, my deputy on Hikon.”

* * * * *

The flight
from Washington to Tel Aviv provided a new experience for the three
Karavec who were accustomed to interplanetary travel, but unused to
air travel.

“We do not
have much use for planes,” Elena explained to Forster. “We don’t
travel much between destinations on our home planets and, when we
do, we prefer to travel by rail. Planes are used on Karavec worlds
other than Hikon, but they are mainly used for the transportation
of cargo.”

“Planes are
not used much on Earth either,” Forster replied. “I have only been
on a plane once before.”

So they all
enjoyed the spectacle of viewing or experiencing the land and
oceans of Ziemia from ten thousand metres. Lolena was unable to see
the stunning vistas, but she tasted the splendour by using her
gnaris, accompanied by vivid descriptions from Barrow and
Elena.

After nearly
five hours of darkness while they crossed a vast ocean, they awoke
to a bright sunrise and the sighting of land.

Elena took a
quick peek out of the window. “I can see a group of tiny islands,”
she said.

“What else can
you see?” Lolena asked.

“In the
distance there’s a large continent.”

When they got
closer, she added, “There’s a city down there. I can see its
lights.”

She turned to
Forster. “Look.”

“It must be
one of the modern cities that the president spoke about,” said
Forster.

“That’s
London.”

Forster looked
up to see the smiling face of the president’s aide who accompanied
them on their journey.

“Is it a big
city?”

“One of the
biggest on Ziemia. It is an exact replica of a city on Earth by the
same name.”

London was
situated on a small island separated from the continent by a narrow
stretch of water. After leaving the island behind, and crossing the
channel, the remainder of the flight took them for the most part
across land.

“We are flying
over a high mountain range,” Elena told Lolena a few minutes later,
“and there are many rivers flowing from the mountains towards the
seas.”

After another
two hours, the plane began its descent and approached its
destination from the west, flying low over another sea, much
smaller than the vast ocean they had crossed a few hours
earlier.

Because they
arrived on the president’s private jet, the authorities in Tel Aviv
gave the plane preferential treatment. After it had landed, flight
control gave the pilot clearance to taxi to a terminal that was
used by VIP’s. The president’s aide then escorted his guests
through immigration without having to undergo the usual
formalities.